The Council on American-Islamic Relations is having a banner month. The militant Muslim group never lets a crisis go to waste. That means Americans should beware. When unappeasable CAIR is ascendant, our free speech rights, religious liberty and national security are at risk.

Following the horrible massacre at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, CAIR flacks were out in full force decrying "Islamophobia" and calling for crackdowns on "hate speech" (by which they mean any and all negative thoughts or words about CAIR or Islam). CAIR executive director Nihad Awad was first out of the gate to blame President Donald Trump; target Fox News hosts Jeanine Pirro and Tucker Carlson, whom the left wants to silence; and renew opposition to White House efforts to tighten our immigration and entrance policies, including the travel ban affecting terror-sponsoring countries upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.

One of the most vocal critics of policies to guard American sovereignty is radical Somali-born Muslim Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. CAIR leaders and members poured thousands of dollars into her campaign. This weekend, the America-bashing, Israel-deriding congresswoman will headline a sold-out fund-raising banquet in Southern California. It will be a triumphant celebration, no doubt, of Rep. Omar's escape from Democratic leadership sanctions (with an invaluable assist from the CAIR lobby) for her nasty swipes at Republicans, Jews, and, of course, Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump.

While they drape themselves in the mantle of "civility," the CAIR brigade speaks viciously and cavalierly about their enemies. Omar says Trump is not "human." On an Arab-American talk show, she mocked a college professor who treated terrorist organizations al-Qaida and Hezbollah with gravity. She cackled at how he named them with a sternness in his voice and questioned why the words "Army" and "America" are not uttered with equal contempt. I can hear the ululations of agreement at the CAIR banquet now.

Let's not kid ourselves about these exploiters and sowers of division. They thrive on violence whether Muslims are the victims or the perpetrators. CAIR operatives are first to claim systematic oppression and fear of a "backlash" if bloodthirsty Islamic jihadists slay innocent Americans. It's always our fault and it's always our responsibility -- to curtail our speech, give up our gun rights, undergo sensitivity training, accept inflated statistics about "hate crimes" and apologize for everything. CAIR wants to shut up its critics in the name of "stopping the hate" because it doesn't want us talking about its dirty, dangerous deeds.

Never forget: The federal government designated CAIR an un-indicted terror co-conspirator in 2007 in the prosecution of the Holy Land Foundation and others for providing support to violent Hamas jihadists. Investigators tied CAIR's founders to the Islamic Association for Palestine, founded by a senior Hamas jihadist to serve as the terrorist group's public relations and recruitment arm in America. The Holy Land Foundation, a terror-financing charity, provided seed money for CAIR's Beltway office.

Never forget: CAIR is a designated terror organization in the United Arab Emirates.

Never forget: Federal law enforcement investigators banned interactions with CAIR to "prevent CAIR from publicly exploiting such contacts with the FBI."

Never forget: Ghassan Elashi, a founding board member of CAIR's Texas chapter, was convicted of laundering money for Hamas terrorism. CAIR's civil rights director Randall Todd Royer trained with the al Qaeda-linked jihad group Lashkar-e-Taiba and was convicted of conspiring to engage in terror activities. Bassem Khafagi, former CAIR community affairs director and a founder of the sharia-promoting Islamic Assembly of North America, was deported back to his home country of Egypt after being convicted for bank and visa fraud.

Never forget: CAIR officials in California rushed in front of cameras after the San Bernardino jihad attack in 2015 to blame American foreign policy instead of the killers. CAIR provided aid, comfort and legal assistance to the mass shooters' families.

Never forget: Last summer, CAIR stoked a fake hate crime perpetrated by an Odessa, Texas, waiter who falsely claimed he received a customer's receipt with the message: "We don't tip terrorist."

Never forget: CAIR disseminated the fake claims of a deranged Muslim New York teenager who lied about having her hijab ripped off by Trump supporters.

Never forget: CAIR helped manufacture the "Clock Boy" fake hate claim in Texas -- after which, Clock Boy jetted off to Qatar to cash in on a Muslim Brotherhood-linked educational scholarship.

Never forget: CAIR has flexed its censorship muscle by squelching critics of Somalia-based jihad group al-Shabab in Minnesota and smearing them as "anti-Muslim" -- even if they were Muslim.

Never forget: CAIR works every day to silence Muslim reformers, apostates, Christians, Jews, infidel scholars, border security advocates, anti-sharia activists and investigative independent journalists, on college campuses, TV airwaves and the internet, to prevent us from exposing the truth about Islamic supremacism.

To quote the late and dearly missed Italian journalist and fierce lioness Oriana Fallaci, who faced trial and death threats for "insulting Islam:"

Lan astaslem. "I will not surrender."

Michelle Malkin's email address is writemalkin@gmail.com. To find out more about Michelle Malkin and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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